Its now believed to be key logging as the cause.

@ RW,

did you even read the article? it says clearly that microsoft's systems had not been compromised....

so read more than just the headline before saying "bad reporting..."

Hotmail suffers massive data theft

How is this a theft from Hotmail? It is theft of individual usernames and passwords from user's PCs. Nobody has hacked Hotmail and, as far as I can see, Microsoft have done nothing wrong here, but the headline suggests a security breach of hotmail.

Bad reporting

I had my Hotmail account hacked a few years ago, and the hackers used it to access my eBay account. Microsoft support were totally useless, mindless droids parroting a script, they refused to accept any sort of proof that I was the owner trying to get access. Their best advice was "open a new account".

By contrast, eBay were very helpful and quickly restored my account, and cleaned up the mess caused by the hackers.

Of course, any online accounts are vulnerable, but I want to know there is support available should this happen, and Microsoft were appalling. I wouldn't touch Hotmail/Windows Live with a bargepole.

microsoft is the main target for all kinds of malware so the people who use their products are just asking for it

they may as well have a tattoo on their forehead saying "MUG" or "SCAM FODDER"

This phising thing also affected Gmail, Aol and some others which I can't remember right now -I'm too lazy to look it up-
It seems that stupid users are more or less evenly distributed after all.

So - this was a mass phishing exercise, directed purely at Hotmail accounts? Why would anyone even do that? Is there evidence that Hotmail users are especially stupid or credulous?

Well, I suppose if Microsoft runs Hotmail, and the users think that's the best service they can find...